Written Answers Thursday 26 October 2006

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been employed in the farming sector in each year since 1999, broken down into (a) dairy, (b) beef, (c) sheep, (d) arable and (e) any other forms of farming.

Ross Finnie: The following tables show the number of people who have been employed in each farming sector and includes working occupiers, spouses and family members as well as employees and casual and seasonal workers.

  The farming sectors are defined using a European classification and take into account the main agricultural activity of the holding.

  

Dairy
Year


1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Full-time
4,576
4,323
3,851
3,873
3,723
3,668
3,548
3,461


Part-time
1,451
1,414
1,310
1,369
1,346
1,313
1,354
1,329


Casual and seasonal
283
271
249
252
252
258
232
244


Total
6,310
6,008
5,410
5,494
5,321
5,239
5,134
5,034


Holdings
1,834
1,750
1,571
1,596
1,545
1,536
1,483
1,434



  

Beef
Year


1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Full-time
5,731
5,648
5,516
5,526
5,446
5,841
5,908
5,871


Part-time
4,871
5,113
5,144
5,274
5,250
5,685
5,933
6,113


Casual and seasonal
484
475
459
460
484
510
537
555


Total
11,086
11,236
11,119
11,260
11,180
12,036
12,378
12,539


Holdings
5,068
5,131
5,107
5,112
5,068
5,474
5,587
5,685



  

Sheep
Year


1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Full-time
2,591
2,479
2,290
2,215
2,178
1,765
1,751
1,775


Part-time
8,503
8,436
8,190
8,262
8,184
7,515
7,474
7,740


Casual and seasonal
485
515
484
512
530
383
457
441


Total
11,579
11,430
10,964
10,989
10,892
9,663
9,682
9,956


Holdings
6,926
6,817
6,563
6,449
6,335
5,731
5,672
5,790



  

Beef and Sheep (Mixed)
Year


1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Full-time
4,472
4,228
3,613
3,575
3,528
2,878
2,796
2,541


Part-time
3,722
3,637
3,184
3,283
3,217
3,142
3,009
2,656


Casual and seasonal
412
395
339
348
331
315
322
301


Total
8,606
8,260
7,136
7,206
7,076
6,335
6,127
5,498


Holdings
3,624
3,407
2,988
3,021
2,951
2,741
2,666
2,360



  

Arable1
Year


1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Full-time
7,668
7,383
7,617
7,107
6,644
6,920
6,559
6,298


Part-time
5,576
5,808
5,972
5,820
5,817
6,131
5,916
5,781


Casual and seasonal
1,027
1,285
1,221
1,593
1,826
2,110
2,378
2,225


Total
14,271
14,476
14,810
14,520
14,287
15,161
14,853
14,304


Holdings
5,438
5,429
5,535
5,286
5,141
5,385
5,208
5,017



  

Other2
Year


1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Full-time
6,474
6,419
6,764
6,349
6,295
6,290
6,040
5,797


Part-time
10,348
10,969
11,776
11,701
12,430
12,684
12,704
13,000


Casual and seasonal
743
724
837
782
800
651
708
726


Total
17,565
18,112
19,377
18,832
19,525
19,625
19,452
19,523


Holdings
8,814
9,132
9,693
9,456
9,762
9,853
9,929
9,916



  

Total
Year


1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006


Full-time
31,512
30,480
29,651
28,645
27,814
27,362
26,602
25,743


Part-time
34,471
35,377
35,576
35,709
36,244
36,470
36,390
36,619


Casual and seasonal
3,434
3,665
3,589
3,947
4,223
4,227
4,634
4,492


Total
69,417
69,522
68,816
68,301
68,281
68,059
67,626
66,854


Holdings
31,704
31,666
31,457
30,920
30,802
30,720
30,545
30,202



  Source: June Agricultural Census.Notes:1. The arable sector consists of cereal, general cropping and horticulture holdings.2. The "other" sector includes pigs, poultry and holdings with mixed activity.3. There are a large number of small holdings that do not report any labour in the June Agricultural Census. These have not been included in the results above.4. As the holding classification is updated every year, individual holdings can move between sectors depending on agricultural activity reported on the June Agricultural Census. This should be noted when considering trends within specific farm sectors.

Crofting

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what final proposals have been agreed to replace the interim bull hire arrangements for crofters and when they will be published.

Rhona Brankin: The interim bull hire arrangements for crofters will continue during 2007. We have just received confirmation that our proposals for a Crofters Cattle Quality Improvements Scheme have been given state aid clearance. We will publish details of the revised scheme in due course.

Culture

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which ministerial portfolio Creative Scotland will come under.

Patricia Ferguson: Creative Scotland, like its predecessors, the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen will form part of the responsibilities of the Tourism, Culture and Sport portfolio.

Dairy Industry

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support dairy farming in Clydesdale.

Ross Finnie: Dairy producers benefit from support from the Single Farm Payment which was introduced following Common Agricultural Policy reform in 2003.

  The main concern of dairy producers is the price of milk but I cannot intervene directly in the market to influence milk prices. When I meet with processors and retailers, I continually emphasise the importance of sound trading relationships between the various parts of the supply chain. Long-term continuity of supply will only be guaranteed if producers in Clydesdale and elsewhere receive a reasonable return.

Dairy Industry

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is making any representations on behalf of dairy farmers to supermarkets relating to the price they pay for milk.

Ross Finnie: I share the concerns of those worried about the level of returns being made by many milk producers but I cannot intervene directly in the market.

  When I meet the major retailers, I emphasise how seriously the Executive views the importance of maintaining a sustainable food chain with healthy trading relationships between suppliers and retailers.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional community and residential care places it plans to create in the next four years to help people with alcohol and other addictions.

Lewis Macdonald: Such planning is done at local rather than national level. Alcohol and drug action teams and their partner agencies are responsible for assessing needs and commissioning services in their local areas, including any arrangements for the provision of community or residential care places.

Employment

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it offers to those who provide voluntary work placements to graduates to assist them in finding full-time employment.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive recognises the value volunteering provides for individuals and communities across Scotland, including for graduates. The Executive’s Volunteering Strategy, launched in May 2004, has a particular focus on encouraging volunteering for young people. The strategy underpins the Executive’s programme of support for volunteering, which includes funding national volunteering organisations such as Volunteer Development Scotland and Project Scotland to provide young people throughout Scotland with opportunities to volunteer either full-time (through Project Scotland) or part-time (through the MV Award Scheme).

Environment

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (Sol): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to undertake research into land quality, the environmental implications of hazardous chemicals and the relationship between the environment and human health.

Rhona Brankin: Research on land quality is included within the five year programmes of research recently commissioned by the Environment and Rural Affairs Department.

  The Scottish Executive plans to undertake more specific research which will review the effectiveness of the contaminated land regime in terms of resource utilisation and activity levels and also an inventory of radioactively contaminated land in Scotland.

  The Scottish Executive has recently invited research proposals in the area of the Environment and Human Health from the scientific community.

Europe

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what work it has carried out, or intends to carry out, to define the organisational and resource implications before deciding whether and, if so, when to implement the linguistic competence indicator called for at the Barcelona European Council in 2002.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive, along with other UK administrations, has seen and commented on the European Commission’s proposals for a European Indicator of Language Competence.

  However, we believe that further development work is needed at an EU level to define the organisational and resource implications of this work. An expert group, comprising representatives from all member states, is being established by the Commission to look at how the indicator should be developed. The Executive is awaiting the conclusions of this group before undertaking any work in this area.

Finance

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its justification is for the delayed publication of the report of the budget review group, in light of an increasing emphasis on evidence-led policy making.

Mr Tom McCabe: Early indications are that the next spending review will be a time of lower growth in public spending so ministers will need to make careful choices.

  Later publication provides ministers with the time to explore carefully the options in the report - early disclosure could increase pressure to rule in or out options without consideration.

Finance

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it considers that the delayed publication of the report of the budget review group will have on public perception of its openness and willingness to respond to feedback.

Mr Tom McCabe: The report is an important part of our consideration of the next spending review.

  Later publication provides ministers with the time to explore carefully the options in the report.

  The report will be as part of the background information that informed our decisions when we announce the outcome of the spending review in September 2007. We will respond to any feedback at that time.

Finance

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been held in the Central Unallocated Provision in each year since its introduction and whether it will provide a breakdown of how any money held was spent.

Mr Tom McCabe: Since its introduction in October 2004, the following amounts have been held in the Central Unallocated Provision (CUP):

  

For Year Ending
Amount
  (£ Million)


31 March 2005
575


31 March 2006
965



  Spending funded from the CUP receives approval through the budget revision process. Details of all the funds drawn down from Central Unallocated Provision are available in the relevant supporting documents to the budget bill revisions published in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Forestry Commission

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the effectiveness of Forestry Commission Scotland’s spending against its objectives.

Rhona Brankin: Forestry Commission Scotland’s (FCS) spending is subject to the same scrutiny as other departments of the Scottish Executive. Every two years its planned activities are examined in detail in the Spending Review to ensure that it is meeting the agreed objectives and wider priorities of the Executive. The results of the Spending Review are presented in the FCS Corporate Plan which includes analysis of spend by objective. Annual FCS spend is approved by Parliament through the Budget Bill and it reports the effectiveness of its activities against the agreed objectives in its Annual Report and Accounts. FCS is subject to annual examination by Audit Scotland and plays an active part in the Executive’s Efficient Government Initiative, delivering over £4 million of efficiency savings over the period 2004-05 to 2007-08.

  In addition to this, independent reports have been commissioned over the last few years to look at the effectiveness of how FCS is meeting its social, economic and environmental objectives. The reports and responses are shown as follows, with an appropriate weblink reference:

  Mary Hobley Report - Responding to the Challenge: Forest Enterprise and Community Involvement in Scotland:

  http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/final04021.pdf/$FILE/final04021.pdf.

  http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/HobleyResponse.pdf/$FILE/HobleyResponse.pdf.

  CJC Consulting Report - Economic Analysis of the Contribution of the Forest Estate Managed by Forestry Commission Scotland:

  http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FCSforestestatefinal2.pdf/$FILE/FCSforestestatefinal2.pdf.

  Simon Pepper et al - Environmental Review Group Report :

  [Report and Response to be published early in November 2006].

Health

Mr Frank McAveety (Glasgow Shettleston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what further plans are being considered to tackle obesity in Scotland’s population.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive is tackling obesity across Scotland’s population through the implementation of our diet and physical activity strategies. Collectively they set the framework for action to improve our diet and drive up levels of activity, an approach to tackling obesity which has been commended by the World Health Organization.

Health

Mr Charlie Gordon (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to whether Crohn’s disease should be a reportable disease.

Mr Andy Kerr: Current evidence on the causation of Crohn’s disease suggests it would not be appropriate to include it in the list of specified infectious diseases notifiable under the Public Health (Notification of Infectious Diseases) (Scotland) Regulations 1988.

  The suggestion that Crohn’s should be made a notifiable disease may refer to the suggestion that it is caused by the organism Mycobacterium Avium subspecies Paratuberculosis (Map), which it is claimed may be present in milk and drinking water. The Department of Health’s Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, which advises all the UK Health Departments, has however concluded on two occasions (1992 and 1998) that a link between Map and Crohn’s disease could not be established on current evidence.

Housing

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time taken to assess applications for grant assistance for aids and adaptations for householders is in each local authority.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time is to implement applications for grant assistance for aids and adaptations for householders.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have mechanisms in place to monitor the effectiveness of the provision of aids and adaptations.

Johann Lamont: The information requested is not held centrally.

Justice

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has collected from local authorities as a consequence of fixed penalty notices for car parking offences in each year since 2003-04.

Cathy Jamieson: The following table provides the available information on the value of fixed penalty notices for non-endorsable stationary traffic offences received by District Courts across Scotland and the value sent to the Exchequer. It is not possible to separate out parking offences from other stationary traffic offences.

  Fixed Penalties for Non-Endorsable Stationary Traffic Offences, 2003-04 to 2004-05

  

Scotland
2003-04
2004-05


Value of fixed penalties received
£1,202,733
£1,124,984


Value of fixed penalties sent to the Exchequer
£1,091,770
£1,019,416



  Notes:

  1. In 2003-04, this information was not available for Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, Eilean Siar, Fife and Stirling. North Ayrshire could not provide data on the value of these fixed penalties received since the information could not be separated from the value of fixed penalties received for non-endorsable (mostly moving) traffic offences.

  2. In 2004-05, information was not available for Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, Eilean Siar, Fife and Stirling. West Dunbartonshire could not provide this data since the information could not be separated from the values for other types of fixed penalty.

  3. Excludes the value of penalty charge notices which are collected through decriminalised parking enforcement schemes under the Road Traffic Act 1991. Revenue from penalties collected under these schemes is retained by the local authority. Decriminalised parking enforcement is in operation in Aberdeen City, City of Edinburgh, Dundee City, Glasgow City, Perth and Kinross and South Lanarkshire.

Justice

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has examined on the level of alcohol-related (a) crime and (b) antisocial behaviour.

Cathy Jamieson: Research on the links between alcohol, crime and disorder was reviewed by the Scottish Executive to help inform the Nicholson Committee’s Review of Liquor Licensing Law in Scotland. The results of this review were published in Liquor Licensing and Public Disorder: Review of Literature on the Impact of Licensing and Other Controls, and Audit of Local Initiatives’ (2003) which can be accessed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/47032/0025167.pdf .

Justice

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many vehicle occupants have been fined for non-wearing of seat belts in each of the last 10 years, broken down by police force area.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the following table.

  Seat Belt Offences with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts Resulting in a Fine (Main Penalty), 1995-96 to 2004-05

  

Police Force
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98
1998-99
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05


Central 
118
38
149
138
165
316
349
287
219
185


Dumfries and Galloway
73
27
17
68
39
10
5
18
5
12


Fife 
160
66
164
174
161
182
154
120
236
149


Grampian 
27
17
50
303
389
129
215
160
124
105


Lothian and Borders 
495
158
799
602
394
319
485
295
305
136


Northern 
17
6
27
27
147
42
99
75
80
81


Strathclyde 
705
440
1,207
1,099
1,183
1,048
1,097
849
614
411


Tayside 
184
110
303
301
215
125
120
174
295
79


Scotland
1,779
862
2,716
2,712
2,693
2,171
2,524
1,978
1,878
1,158

Marine Environment

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to providing a licence under regulation 44 of the habitats regulations in relation to ship-to-ship oil transfer activity in the Firth of Forth as proposed by Melbourne Marine Services.

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that ship-to-ship oil transfer activity in the Firth of Forth requires a licence under regulation 44 of the habitats regulations.

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a licence is required under regulation 44 of the EU habitats regulations in relation to ship-to-ship oil transfer activity and, if so, whether there are circumstances in which it would refuse to grant a licence for such activity.

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what licensing powers it has in relation to ship-to-ship oil transfers.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Executive is in contact with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) on whether the proposed ship-to-ship transfers of crude oil in the Firth of Forth would be likely to disturb a European Protected Species, or damage or destroy its breeding sites or resting places. If it were established that the proposed transfer would be likely to affect a European Protected Species in one of these ways, a licence would be required from the Scottish Executive as the licensing authority under regulation 44 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats & c.) Regulations 1994 whether or not the species is present in these places.

  Should a licence application be necessary, the Scottish Executive would consider it in accordance with the requirements of regulation 44.

Marine Environment

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive at what stage in the application process it would make public details of an application for a licence to undertake ship-to-ship oil transfer activity in the Firth of Forth.

Rhona Brankin: No licence application has been received by the Scottish Executive under Regulation 44 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats & c.) Regulations 1994, and it would therefore be premature to comment on this issue.

National Health Service

Mr Ted Brocklebank (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with NHS Fife regarding the timescale for the new community hospital and health centre for St Andrews to be operational.

Mr Andy Kerr: As explained in response to a similar question in December 2004, the Executive has had the normal level of contact with the St Andrews Project as it has with all projects.

  The outline business case which identified the preferred option was approved by the Executive on 31 August 2003. Since then the Executive has offered technical support as requested. Officials have attended project board meetings as observers and have supported individuals in the project, as appropriate.

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it consulted anybody in Mallaig before fixing the date of the visit of the coastal and marine national park campaign bus to Mallaig and, if so, who was consulted; whether the Mallaig and North West Fishermen’s Association was consulted, and whether the Executive received representations seeking an alternative date to 10 October 2006 from, or on behalf of, fishermen.

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the visit of the coastal and marine national park campaign bus to Mallaig should have been arranged with prior consultation of the fishermen in the areas of the proposed visits and, if so, why such consultation was not carried out.

Ross Finnie: In preparation for the Coastal and Marine National Park roadshow permission was sought where necessary for the siting of the vehicles at the venues to be visited.

  Contact was made with local interests in Mallaig and my officials have also been in correspondence with the Mallaig and North West Fishermen’s Association (MNWFA) about the timing of the Mallaig visit. I can confirm that MNWFA requested that an alternative date to 10 October be considered for Mallaig.

  The proposed start and finish time of the roadshow at Mallaig was changed to allow fishermen to visit in the evening and the visit took place on 17 October.

Prison Service

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to provide a new prison facility in the north east of Scotland.

Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-17707 on 19 July 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  The consultation exercise carried out regarding the future of the prisons in the North East of Scotland concluded at the end of last year, and copies of the submissions received can be viewed on the SPS website at www.sps.gov.uk. In addition, the Scottish Prison Service have recently written to the Chief Officers of Scotland’s eight CJAs to seek their views on the issues raised in the consultation.

Schools

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether reports that some schools still contain large amounts of asbestos are correct and, if so, what urgent remedial measures will be taken.

Peter Peacock: Information about the incidence of asbestos in schools is not collected centrally. Local authorities are responsible for school buildings under their management.

  The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 place a duty on those with legal responsibilities for maintenance of buildings to manage the risk from asbestos. This includes assessing whether there is asbestos in buildings, and, depending on its condition, removing it or managing it. These regulations were made under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The Health and Safety Executive provides advice and guidance on the management of asbestos.

Sex Offenders

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the victims of the offences committed by the individuals on the sex offenders’ register whose whereabouts are unknown have been notified of the offenders’ disappearance.

Cathy Jamieson: The extent to which information is made available to victims, their families, or identified adults targeted by an offender, is an operational matter for the police to determine and on a case-by-case basis. In all circumstances, the police assess the risk of harm an offender poses and disclose relevant information where it the most appropriate way to protect the public generally or any individuals in particular. That assessment is kept under review particularly when an offender fails to comply with requirements placed upon them.

  Professor George Irving in his report Registering the Risk, published last autumn, recommended that the existing disclosure powers be strengthened by the introduction of a warning system to regulate the activities and behaviours of registered sex offenders. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland has acted upon that recommendation and is putting in place a system of controlled disclosure as part of operational guidance to support consistency and effective management of registered sex offenders.

Warm Deal Programme

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of Warm Deal insulation grants have been given to households with children in each year since the inception of the initiative and how many of these households were removed from fuel poverty as a result.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Since 2001, the proportion of grants provided under the Warm Deal Programme to households with children, is as shown in the table below. This relates to work undertaken by Eaga Partnership. The table also shows Warm Deal installations carried out by local authorities in their own stock. However, no data is available regarding the proportion of households with children for the local authority installations.

  Proportion of Households Containing Children

  

Year
Total Number of Warm Deal Installations by Eaga Partnership
Proportion of Households Containing Children
Total number of Warm Deal Installations by Local Authorities


2001-02
22,328
22%
18,549


2002-03
21,755
27%
8,237


2003-04
21,600
23%
5,920


2004-05
14,953
19.2%
4,060



  Note: work undertaken by Eaga Partnership was across all sectors of the housing stock. No data is available regarding the proportion of households with children, improved under the local authority part of the programme.

  Research has assessed the impact on fuel poverty of the central heating programme, which includes warm deal measures, but not the impact of warm deal measures on their own. However, the most recent annual report on the central heating programme and warm deal shows that over 2004-05 the warm deal achieved a predicted reduction in average annual fuel bills ranging from £109 for tenants of private landlords to £19 for tenants of housing associations and £168 for local authority tenants. This figure is not broken down by household composition.

  The predicted reduction in housing association properties reflects the fact that these properties tend to start from a higher level of thermal efficiency due, for example, to the presence of cavity wall or loft insulation. The potential gains are therefore more modest than in other sectors.

Water

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 are working satisfactorily.

Rhona Brankin: The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 ("CAR") came into force on 1 April 2006. They provide a single holistic framework of controls for all activities that pose a risk to the water environment.

  Smooth progress is being made in the introduction of these Regulations. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has issued authorisations for all the applications it has received to transfer existing activities into the CAR regime. Over 1,650 applications for new activities have also been received and processed since 1 April 2006.

Wildlife

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28171 by Rhona Brankin on 20 September 2006, what additional measures are now underway to protect red squirrels.

Rhona Brankin: Two grey squirrel control officers have been appointed to work in the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway, in woodlands identified as priority areas for red squirrel conservation. They have been tasked with raising awareness of the squirrel pox virus amongst land owners and the public, offering training to land managers in live trapping and humane methods of despatch of grey squirrels and carrying out control where such assistance is required.

Wildlife

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28171 by Rhona Brankin on 20 September 2006, what the options are for a longer term strategy for red squirrel conservation and when such a strategy will be put into place.

Rhona Brankin: The options for a longer term strategy for red squirrel conservation are wide ranging and complex. Full details of these options are contained within the Red Squirrel Action Plan. I have asked Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to publish the plan on their website and expect it to be available soon. As I stated in my previous response to the MSP, the action plan is being considered as part of the SNH Species Framework for Action, which is currently being developed.

Wildlife

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish golden eagle offspring have been relocated to Ireland in each year since the golden eagle reintroduction project began.

Rhona Brankin: Forty-two birds have been released between 2001 when the project began and the end of 2005; figures for the individual years are available in the following table. I understand four birds were relocated in 2006, but final confirmation of this figure will be available from Scottish Natural Heritage in due course.

  

 
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Total


No. Birds Released
6
8
11
10
7
42

Wildlife

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether golden eagle offspring destined for relocation to Ireland under the golden eagle reintroduction project are removed from nests as chicks or as fledglings.

Rhona Brankin: The birds are removed from nests where there are two viable chicks after they are about six weeks old. At this stage of their development they are capable of feeding themselves from food provided to them.

Wildlife

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the survival rate has been of golden eagle chicks removed from nests in Scotland and relocated to Ireland in each year since the golden eagle reintroduction project began.

Rhona Brankin: Mortality rates are not available on a yearly basis. Twenty-six of the 42 individuals released (62%) were known to be alive at the end of 2005. This should not be seen as a definitive survival rate as it would be incorrect to assume that most of the other birds are dead. However, the known survival rate is very good, similar to Scottish survival rates and, although data is incomplete given that the project is still at a very early age, it is my understanding that survival is well within the expected range, and sufficient to achieve the project’s aims.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Christmas Cards

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the connection is between the design of the Parliament’s official Christmas card for 2006 and Christmas.

George Reid: The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has chosen an image of the Parliament building for its 2006 Christmas card design. In doing so we were guided by the past preferences of members who buy the card, our equalities policy and the approach of other institutions who choose to represent aspects of their iconic buildings.